PLATE XXXVIII. 
GENUS LATHAMUS (Lesson). 
AFTER much discussion as to whether the only known species of this genus should be placed among the 
Nanodes, the Euphemoe, or the Triclwglossi, naturalists have at last decided to form it into a distinct type 
as Latham us. In its habits and economy it is most nearly allied to the Triclwglossi, being a honey-eater like 
them. 
LATHAMUS DISCOLOUR. {Gould.) 
SWIFT LORIKEET. Genus: Lathamus. 
WE have here a small, pretty bird, about nine inches and a-half long, and generally green on the upper and 
under surfaces, with the difference that it is a soft grass-green above and a yellow-green below. It is migratory 
in its habits, passing the breeding season and summer in Tasmania, whence it crosses to the mainland 
in great flocks, flying fast and high, and steering northward, some bound for Victoria, and some for New South 
Wales or South Australia, and returning to the north for the rest of the year. 
As a honey-feeder, it is strictly arboreal in its habits, and grows so venturesome in the pursuit of the 
nectar hidden in the soft ball-like heads of the creamy gum blossoms that it will perch upon a tree in a busily 
populated locality and gather great drops of liquid sweetness, totally regardless of people passing within a few 
feet of it. 
In Tasmania the Swift Lorikeet delights most in the blue gum {eucalyptus globulus), and collects so much 
honey from the aromatic blossoms that if one is shot in the act of feeding, and held up by its feet, a stream of 
liquid amounting to a dessert-spoonful will be discharged from its mouth. The plumage of these birds so closely 
assimilates in colour to the gum tree foliage, and they creep so quietly, yet with such agility, from branch to 
branch, that it is almost impossible to distinguish them, except by the trembling of the leaves and the slight 
scratching sound as beak or claw alternately act as propellers. They are beautiful and graceful little birds, but, 
like the Triclwglossi, are not easily tamed, nor do they bear confinement well. To meet the requirements of 
migratory habits, Nature has endowed them with a strong swift flight. They may be seen in companies of from 
four to twenty passing over towns, sometimes chasing each other in sport like the European Swifts, at others 
passing from garden to garden, or gum forest to gum forest, in search of honey-bearing flowers. 
Of their nidification little is known, as they invariably choose holes in the loftiest and most inaccessible 
trees. The egg is white, eleven lines and a-half long by ten lines broad. They differ from the Triclwglossi in that 
they have no musky smell, nor do they jump in their movements. 
The sexes are alike in colour, but the female is smaller and less brilliant in all her markings. The 
young ones moult early, and assume the adult plumage. 
Forehead and chin, red, with a yellow spot at the gape ; crown of head, deep blue in some, bluish green 
in others ; under wing coverts, tip of shoulders, and under tail coverts, deep red, marked with black ; upper wing 
coverts, blue at base, fading into yellowish green ; primaries, deep blue, finely margined with yellow ; secondaries, 
greenish blue ; tertiaries, brown, tipped on outer edge with yellow ; pointed fan-shaped tail, reddish brown in 
centre, four outer feathers pale blue on outer webbs ; bill, horn colour ; irides, hazel yellow ; tarsi, dark grey. 
Habitats : Wide Bay District (Queensland), Richmond and Clarence River Districts (New South Wales), 
Interior, Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania. 
